Attraction Of Opposites
by Arsaces
Summary: (Pricefield) Starts at the end of EP 3, but takes a different path quite quickly. Crime/Romance. Rated M. Update: The story isn't finished and will probably never be finished. Sorry, the ending of the game screwed with my mind too much.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1.  
Greetings. I'm going to put my other story ("Lost in Azure") on a hold for the time being and instead focus on this one.  
Hope you enjoy. Feel free to leave a review.**

 **Special thanks to Isabella Mariana for allowing me to use this cover image.**

"Chloe, you can't keep blaming me and everyone for everything wrong in your life. It's so not fair!"

"I gotta blame somebody. Otherwise it's all my fault. Fuck that!" tears were flowing down the blue-haired girls cheeks as her eyes were fixated on the road ahead. Max and Chloe had broken in Frank's RV and found evidence that Rachel, Chloe's best friend, was romantically engaged with him behind Chloe's back. This had enraged the punk-girl, and now she was having a serious meltdown while driving Max back to Blackwell.

"So now it's Rachel's fault too?" Max said with a questioning face.

"Jesus, she was banging that pig Frank! She lied to my face, Max! I can't trust anyone again. Everybody pretends to care, until they don't. Even you!"

Those words hurt, but also made Max angry. She knew that she'd been an ass for not contacting Chloe for five years after she left for Seattle. But ever since getting back together with her, Max had done everything in her power to be there for her. She saved her from getting shot by Nathan, she risked her scholarship in Blackwell by jumping out of hiding and taking the blame for the joint after Chloe was busted by her step-father David, she saved her from that ricocheting bullet in the junkyard, she saved her from the train, and even put her morals aside and allowed Chloe to steal money from the handicapped fund so she could pay off Frank. All this, only for Chloe to accuse her of 'not caring'?

"Chloe Price, you better take those words back. Right now." Max shot back.

The punk-girl took a quick look at Max, seemingly regretting what she just said. "Okay, fine." she continued after a split-second of silence. "But you just don't understand. It's like I'm being punished by the universe..."

Chloe's eyes were bloodshot and filled with both sadness and rage. It was as if Rachel's 'betrayal' released all the negative emotions and memories that had lingered in the girls heart and mind for the past five years.

"So who do you most want to blame for the problems in your life?"

"My fucking dad of course, hello?!" Chloe shouted out as she slammed her hand on the steering wheel.

"You blame William? Really?" Max couldn't believe what she was hearing.

"Yes, I do. Damn right. He chose to go out that door and leave me forever."

"Chloe, your dad didn't choose to 'leave' you."

"I know that, Max. My mom actually blames herself... Just because she wanted a ride home from work. Sometimes even I blame her."

"No, you don't."

"Yes, Max, I do! Do you know what it's like to wait for your father to come home when you're kid, and he never does?" Chloe's voice was getting increasingly darker.

"No, of course not. But I was with you that day. It was just a terrible accident."

"I wish that made me feel better. But ever since he died, my life has been dipped in shit!"

"God Chloe, you're not the only one in Arcadia Bay with problems. Kate Marsh almost-"

"So what if Kate Marsh almost killed herself?! Buhuu, such sad. That doesn't make me feel any better about my own fucked up life! Get it?"

"Chloe, I..." Max felt a sense of regret wash over her for having downplayed Chloe's problems by comparing her to Kate.  
"My dad died, you hella bailed on me, Rachel disappears after betraying me and I get drugged by Nathan! You expect me to just walk on and act as if everything is alright?! ... You know what? I don't need this."

Suddenly the truck took a quick turn and stopped in the parking area of a kebab-shop.  
"Get out of my car." Chloe whispered, signalling to Max that she should exit her vehicle.  
"C-Chloe, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean t-"

"Get. Out." Chloe interrupted her. "And don't you dare rewinding."

"I can't do this on my own. I need you with me. And Rachel needs you..." Max's voice was shaking as she was litterally pleading to her best friend to not abandon her... but it was to no avail. Chloe just sat there with arms crossed and head turned away from Max.

Taking the hint, Max left the truck and started walking with slow steps towards Blackwell Academy, which still was a couple of hundred meters away. She was angry, her eyes were teary, her heart ached and her legs felt like jelly. In the background she heard Chloe's truck finally take off. _"Fuck, what have I done?"_ For a moment Max considered breaking her principle of never using her rewind powers to manipulate Chloe, but decided not to as it felt wrong. Besides, she doubted that she'd be able to change the result.

 _"It was foolish of me to think that the pain I caused her in these five years would heal this quickly."_ Max thought as her eyes finally gave in to the pressure, and tears started flowing down her cheeks like a great, violent river.  
It hurt seeing her friend like this. Max wanted to be with her again like when they were kids, but Chloe just kept pushing her away everytime she tried to reach out to her. One moment it would feel like they were inseparable, and the next moment Chloe would be giving her hell again for the smallest and most ridiculous things. Like when Max answered the call from her suicidal friend Kate Marsh when they were at the diner yesterday. Or when she refused to shoot and kill Frank Bowers. Chloe just made her feel so confused, guilty and sad when she acted like this.

After strolling around like a zombie for some time Max eventually found herself standing in front of her school. With the exception of Samuel cutting some leaves, and a small group students talking to each other near the fountain, the whole area was empty. Max tried to avoid contact with anyone as she looked like a total mess from all the crying. The events of the week were starting to strain Max both in body and mind, and the only person she could find solace in was pissed at her. She felt lonely, insecure and vulnerable, and wanted to just go into her room and isolate herself from the cruel world outside. _"Was this how Chloe felt when I left her when she needed me the most?"_ she thought while staring down at the ground.

"Max? Are you okay?" A voice suddenly bursted in and startled Max, causing her to let out a small scream as she turned around with haste. It was Mr. Jefferson.

"Oh, uh... Mr. Jefferson. Y-yes, I'm fine."

"Sorry for startling you Max. Has something happened? Your eyes are all teary and red." Jefferson gave her a concerned look while putting an arm on her shoulder. "Should I fix an appointment with the school counselor for you?"

"N-no. I just feel a little tired from yesterday." Max replied with a shaky voice.

"I know yesterday was though on you. You did a tremendous job talking Kate down from that roof." Jefferson said while giving her a slight grin. "But I have a feeling that this isn't entirely about Kate."

Max just stared to the ground with a thoughtful, but sad face for a moment, trying to make up her mind if she should talk about her meltdown to Jefferson or just lie. Seeing Max's hesitation Jefferson suddenly shot out:  
"Has it something to do with your friend Chloe?" Max was suprised that he knew about her, but decided to just nod in agreement.

"You are wearing Rachel's clothes, so I kinda guessed that you must've hanged out with Chloe in order to attain them." he continued.

"Yeah... Rachel had left some clothes in the 'Prices' house before her disappearance. Chloe convinced me to try them for fun." Max lied. She didn't want to mention that the only reason she wore them was because her own so-called 'generic, unfashionable' jeans and shirt smelled like chlorine, as that could turn both her and Chloe into suspects for yesterdays break-in at the swimming hall.

"Well, they look good on you Max." he took a deep breath before continuing. "I just hope you're alright. You can always talk to me if you need anything. See you in class." Jefferson said before leaving Max to her thoughts once again. After sitting on the chair for a couple of more minutes, she finally stood up and went to the nearest bathroom to splash some water on her face, before getting on with her day.

 **Chapter two will be up by the end of the day.**


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2.  
 **(Last chapter was kinda lame and started slow. I promise that this one will have more action.)**

The sun had been replaced by the moon as Max was sitting on her bed, staring at the old picture William took of her and Chloe when they were younger... When they were happy, and had everything in their life planned and sorted out. Little did she know at that time of how her and Chloe's lives would be turned upside down in the days, months and years to come. _"If I could just rewind that far back in time I would totally save William from that car accident..."_ Max thought as her eyes became teary again.

William was like a second father to her. She had been devastated almost as much as Chloe when the news of his death reached her as she sat in the kitchen with Chloe that day. Shortly after his death, the Caulfields moved to Seattle and Chloe was left alone in Arcadia Bay. Max wanted to contact her and be there for her best friend, but she didn't know how to handle William's death. She was after all only thirteen years old at the time. As a result Max kept pushing and delaying the call she was preparing to make, and the more she delayed, the harder it became. When days turned to weeks and weeks into months Max eventually just gave up and moved on with her life, hoping that her friend Chloe would do the same. Unfortunately that didn't happen, and today proved just how much Max had screwed up back then.

She put the picture away in her drawer and stood up, checking herself out in the mirror. She had taken off Rachel's clothes and was now wearing a blue jeans, a plain red t-shirt and a dark grey hoodie, which she left unzipped in the front. Her eyes were still slightly swollen from all the tears she'd shed after school. Almost everyone, even the ones who harassed Kate, had been smiling, congratulating or complementing her for saving Kate's life. Warren even gifted her a copy of "Remember me", a game that had been on Max's wishlist since it came out in June. And yet Max felt nothing but sadness and despair.

She had visited the Price-household after school, but no-one was home at the time. To make matters worse, Chloe wasn't responding to any of her calls or text messages. Max wanted to be there for Chloe this time. She wanted to hold the blue-haired girl in her arms and tell her that everything would be alright, that she would never leave her again and that all would go back to how it used to be when they were kids... and maybe, just maybe, Chloe would be interested in taking it a step further?

Ever since meeting up again with Chloe, Max had started to feel weird in her stomach. At first she thought it was because of her excitement to finally be back together with her childhood friend, but the more she spent time thinking about it, the more she became convinced that she was developing feelings for Chloe. Max had never felt attracted to females before, and had definitely not thought of kissing any. That changed when Chloe dared Max to kiss her when they were dressing up in the morning. Even though Max didn't accept the challenge, she still was intrigued by it. There was something about Chloe that made her feel... euphoric. That strange, tingly sensation in her belly everytime she was close to Chloe, and the sense of longing everytime she was away from her was driving her crazy.

Suddenly her cellphone started vibrating, breaking the silence in the room. *Bzzzzz* *Bzzzzz* *Bzzzzz*  
"Chloe!" Max's heart almost jumped to her throat as she quickly ran to her nightstand, picking the fluttering phone up, only to sink down in her bed in disapointment when she saw that it wasn't Chloe, but an anonymous caller.  
"Hello?"

"Shut up and listen." A masculine voice shot out. It was dark and broken, obviously tampered with to keep the identity of the caller hidden.

"Meet us at midnight, in the forest near the path leading up to the lighthouse, if you ever want to see your friend Chloe again." the voice continued.

"W-what?! Who are you?" Max shouted back as she jumped up from her bed.

"We are... friends of yours, and would like to meet you in person Maxine. If you do not grant us our wish, your friend Chloe here will suffer."

Max couldn't believe what she was hearing. Her legs were trembling, her eyes were dilated and her mouth was wide open as she stood in the room in silence. "What are you doing to Chloe?" was the only thing Max could utter with a shaky voice after a while.

"Nothing yet, but that might change depending on your actions. If you don't show up, the girl dies. If you contact the police, she dies. Come one minute too early or one minute too late, and she'll die." the man said, putting extra force in his tone everytime he uttered the word 'die'. "We look forward to meeting you Miss Caulfield." he continued before ending the call.

"No wait, let me talk to-! Damn it... Damn it!" Max shouted to herself as she threw the cellphone at the bed. A mixture of fear, anger and hopelessness swept through Max's mind. She couldn't believe what was happening. The whole thing seemed so unreal... almost like a scene from some low-budget mafia movie. The person she'd spoken to had used the word 'We', so it was clear that a group of people were behind this, and not one single individual. Who were the kidnappers? What did they want? And most importantly: How was Chloe doing? The punk-girl had gone through enough hell. The least she needed was to be kidnapped by some wannabe-mafiosos!

Max didn't know how to proceed. Should she call the police, or at the very least contact David and Joyce? The anonymous caller had demanded that she turn up alone, but maybe she could get someone to sneak up on them while she was keeping them busy? _"No, it's too risky. I have to go alone, and somehow free Chloe. Whatever plan these sickos have didn't take my time-powers into consideration."_ Max thought to herself as her facial expression turned from frightened to determined. She was hell-bent on saving Chloe, even if it would kill her. No-one would harm Chloe again, not on her watch. Max took a look at the clock. It was 11:02 PM. She had less than an hour to get near the lighthouse. _"I'll make it if I hurry. Hold on Chloe!"  
_  
She quickly grabbed her light-brown wrap coat and camera bag before making a run for the exit. It was past curfew so most students were inside their rooms, giving Max the chance to sneak out of the girl's dormitories without being detected. She was about to make a run for it out of the dorm area when she suddenly spotted a security guard moving in towards her direction holding a flashlight. Not wanting to waste a rewind Max decided to hit the dirt near the bushes, quitly observing the man as he walked around in the area before going in the room Samuel kept his tools at. Samuel must've forgotten to lock the door as the guard just went right in without using any keys. _"I really don't want to waste a rewind, but if I want to save Chloe I'll need a weapon."_ Her thoughts immediately jumped to the red hatchet she had seen in there when snooping around two days ago. Max closed her eyes and felt time reverse as she held her right hand up. When the guard was nowhere to be seen, Max jumped out from the bushes and ran towards the room. Several of the tools were missing, but the hatchet was still there were she'd seen it the last time. After grabbing it, she quickly made her way back to the bushes as the light from guards flashlight once again became visible. After he went into the room like last time, Max rushed out from hiding and headed straight towards the campus.

 _"Wowser. They have tightened security after Chloe and I broke in yesterday."_ Max thought when she saw the two guards patrolling the area. This couldn't stop Max the ninja though, as she skillfully evaded the rays from the flashlights by sticking close to the trees, only moving when the guards had their backs turned. After a couple of seconds of sneaking, Max finally stood outside of Blackwell, only now realizing that she'd forgotten her cellphone on her bed. _"Oh man, are you cereal? How am I now supposed to know what time it is?!"_ The anonymous man had made it clear that he wanted Max there at midnight. Not one minute before or one minute after midtnight. No, only precisely at midnight. Max decided to keep moving as she couldn't afford wasting more time without using rewinds. She wasn't planning on playing by the rules anyways. Max instead intended to sneak in on them with the help of her power, and then use the hatchet to take them out. The thought of having to kill frightened her, but she coudn't afford chickening out like she did when Frank Bowers was threatening her and Chloe at the junkyard the day before. Her best friend's life depended on it this time. Seconds quickly turned to minutes as she ran through the empty streets of Arcadia Bay. The weather had been cloudy, but nice most of the day, but now it was raining almost as bad as in her visions.  
 _"Chloe, just hold on a little longer."  
_  
After a while she found herself near the forest. The dirt road to the lighthouse was hard to make out in the dark, but Max still managed to work her way to it. The anonymous man had not given her any specific location, so she was in constant alert, ready to reverse time if anyone attacked her. It was pitch-black, and she felt slightly scared as she moved through the woods. Besides, she could swear hearing the hooting of an owl which, according to the mythology of several cultures, are harbingers of death. Max wasn't particularly superstitious, but it still made her more worried considering the situation she and Chloe were in. After some more minutes of walking in the rain the lighthouse became visible, but neither the anonymous man nor Chloe were anywhere to be seen.

As she started looking around for clues to their whereabouts, the dark figure of a man suddenly stepped out from the back of a tree about 20 meters/64 feet away from her, and started moving in her direction.

"W-Who are you? And where is Chloe?!" Max shouted.  
The man didn't answer and continued taking slow, but long steps towards her.

"Stay back! Or... Or else you'll regret it!" Max yelled with a shaky voice, finally showing the hatchet she'd kept hidden behind her back. It seemed to intimidate the man as he suddenly stopped and observed Max from a distance. He was tall and looked slightly like a fisherman because of the long, black trench-coat and black rain hat he was wearing. Max couldn't make out his face, but it looked like he was wearing a balaclava.

"Calm down Miss Caulfield." The mans voice was almost inaudible because of the rain. "There is no need to make this violent." He continued.

"No, I will not calm down! Where is Chloe?! Why are you doing this?!"

"Your friend is fine. Put the hatchet down and I'll lead you to her."

The man was definitely up to something. Even with her rewind powers Max still couldn't risk taking any chances.  
"No deal! Show her to me first, and then we'll talk!" Max's voice was getting more and more filled with anger. Just the thought of this man having harmed Chloe made her want to cut him down to pieces.

"Too bad. I was hoping we could solve this without resorting to barbarism." With fast steps the man closed in on Max, while grabbing something from his pocket. Could it be a gun? Just when Max was about to raise her hand to rewind time, someone in a yellow raincoat bear-hugged her from behind and lifted her up. Both her hands were now pressed to her side, leaving her unable to rewind.

"No!" Max yelled as she tried to kick the attacker. Before she could land a proper hit, the man wrapped her hands behind her back and threw her to the ground, knocking the air out of her lungs, before sitting on top of her.  
"Help! Help!" Max screamed desperately as she struggled to free herself.

"This could have ended peacefully, but you left us no other choice Maxine." The man in the black raincoat approached her holding something in his hands.

"Why?! Why are you doi-" before she could finish her sentence he put a red cloth on her mouth with his right hand, while his left hand kept her head still.

"Time for a small nap." He said whilst giving away a dark, morbid laughter. The piece of cloth must've been dipped with something since it had a faint, disgusting smell, and made Max feel sleepy and weak. Her vision was getting blurry, her body wasn't responding properly to her commands and she felt dead-tired. _"No... It... It can't end like this. Chloe... needs... me."_ Even though her hands were wrapped behind her back, she still held on to the hatchet. Not being able to swing it, she made a last desperate attempt to free her hand by pressing the sharp side of the hatchet on the yellow-coated mans arm.  
"Damn it! She cut me!" was the last thing she heard before slowly drifting away to the realm of dreams.

 **(Chapter 3 will be up tomorrow, unless I go to full sloth-mode.**  
 **Feel free to write a review about how much you hate this story. :p)**


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3.**

 _"Jesus... My head hella hurts."_ Chloe was laying on the ground of the shed she and Rachel had built for themselves long ago. It was pitch black, and the only audible sound was that of the rain bombarding the roof of her hideout. After dropping off Max, she had spent the entire day just drinking and smoking her self into oblivion while completely ignoring all the messages and calls she was receiving from her mother, David and Max.

She wasn't that drunk anymore, but could still feel the effects in the form of nausea, dizziness and a serious headache. Chloe had calmed down and managed to process the news of Rachel's 'betrayal', even though she still felt bitter and heartbroken. On one side she wanted to find Rachel and confirm to herself that her best friend was still alive and well, but at the same time part of her just wanted to stop giving a damn and move on. Rachel had meant the world to her, just like Max and her dad. But just like them she just disappeared out of her life in an instant, leaving her behind to grieve and long for her. 

_"How long have I been laying here?"_ Chloe wondered whilst slowly crawling towards the couch, grabbing her cellphone to check the time. It was 11:24 PM, and her phone was littered with voicemails and messages she had received after passing out on the floor. With the exception of one message from David, and one 'missed call' notification from an anonymous number, the majority of the calls and messages came from Max's phone.

Chloe felt guilty for the way she had treated Max earlier in the day. Something simply snapped in her when she saw those pictures in Frank's RV, and as a result she let out her ire on the brown-haired girl. Max had apologized and was after all trying really hard to make up for her mistakes, mostly in the form of saving her from trains and gun-toting psychopaths like Nathan, but also by simply being there for Chloe and giving her emotional support. __

 _"I told Max that I would never leave her, and yet here I am drinking myself shitfaced and acting like a douche by ignoring her calls. Really fucking great Chloe."_ She thought while getting up from the chair and walking around in the dark shed, pondering whether she should apologize now or wait for tomorrow. Her eyes suddenly fell on the piece of text she and Rachel had written on the wall months before her disappearance. There was a third line now that read _'Max was here',_ but for some weird reason someone had drawn a giant X over it. It didn't take long for Chloe to realize that the ink from the 'X' was from her own marker. She must've written that before passing out on the floor hours ago. 

For a while she just stood there and gazed upon the wall, lost in her thoughts.  
 _"Max must have been here yesterday when we were testing David's gun."_ After spending a couple of seconds trying to erase the 'X' over Max's name, she finally decided to call her friend back, hoping that it wasn't too late. When no-one picked the phone she sent a message telling Max that she was sorry and would come over to apologize in person, before running through the rain and getting inside her truck. The seat was covered in empty beer bottles, and only know did Chloe realize to what extent she'd been drinking for the past couple of hours. She threw the bottles out of her car and sat down on the drivers seat. Ever since loosing her father in that car accident five years ago she'd promised both Joyce and herself that she would always be careful on the road. Now she was about to break that promise by driving whilst tipsy. _"Sorry mom, but I have to do this."_

The road was barely visible, even with her powerful truck lights turned on, but Chloe still managed to make her way to the main road that led to the city-centre. She was about to make a swing towards the parking area of Blackwell when she spotted a guard walking in the area, holding a flashlight on his right hand and an umbrella in his left one. _"Shit. I need to find a different place for my truck."_ Her thoughts immediately shifted to the parking area near the kebab-shop she had dropped Max in earlier. After parking her truck there, and running a short distance, Chloe found herself standing in front of Blackwell Academy again. Two more guards were stationed in the front of the building, but thanks to the cover of darkness and the sound of rain splashing on the ground, Chloe managed to scurry towards the dorms unseen and unheard. Her clothes were dripping wet as she made her way inside the building and up the stairs leading to the second floor. Chloe knew that Max's room was located there, but she still didn't know the exact room-number. After looking around for a couple of seconds she finally spotted a small map on the right side of the hall. _"Stella Hill, Dana Ward, Kate Marsh... Ah, there you go. Max Caulfield. Room 219."_

She made her way to the end of the hall, doing her best to avoid being heard. Her friend's door wasn't locked, but Chloe still knocked since she didn't want to anger Max by storming in. There was no response, just complete silence.  
She knocked again, and yet again no-one answered. Chloe knew that Max wasn't a heavy sleeper, so there was no way Max didn't hear that.

"Max... I'm really sorry for today." Chloe whispered as she put her ear towards the door before continuing. "I... I was just really pissed and shocked when I found out about Rachel. I shouldn't have taken it out on you. Can we please talk about this?"

Still no response. After waiting for a couple of seconds Chloe finally peeked in, only now realizing that Max wasn't there. The room was a complete mess. Clothes were laying on the ground, books were scattered across the desk, drawers were left wide open and several of Max's pictures were torn down. Someone must've been here and vandalized her room because there was no way Max would live in a pigsty like this. Chloe just stood in front of the door with a confused look for a while, wondering what the hell had happened to the room and, most importantly, where the hell her friend had disappeared. Max had her time travel abilities and could fend for herself, but Chloe still couldn't help but worry. Nathan Prescott was after all pissed at Max, and if there was something Chloe had learned in the past days it was that everything was possible with that guy. Another thing that worried her was the fact that Max's cellphone was just laying on her bed, as it was unusual for Max to go outside without it. She picked it up, but was quickly disappointed to see that it was passworded.

After putting it back the blue-haired girl made her way to the center of the room, doing her best to avoid stepping on Max's stuff with her mud-drenched boots. Several photographs lay on the ground, but one in particular got her attention. It was a picture of her and Max dressed as pirates, taken in a time when they were inseparable. _"I can't believe this picture is only five years old... So much has changed since then."_  
She could still remember how they both jumped around the backyard and acted like they were boarding the ships of unsuspecting merchants. Chloe was the captain, and Max her first-mate, and together they were known as the 'Bluebird pirates'. _"Maybe Max really meant it when she said that she never forgot about me."_ Chloe thought before putting the picture in her pocket. 

Her eyes suddenly fell on Max's unlocked computer. It didn't take long before Chloe was sitting on Max's chair and going through her e-mails and documents. Chloe knew it was wrong snooping through her friends private files, but she needed to find information about where the brunette had gone this late during the night. She also needed to know whether there was something more than friendship going on between Max and Warren. _"You can't lie to me Max!"_ Chloe thought as a small smile formed on her face. She was disappointed to see that Max's computer was relatively boring. It was filled with notes from her classes, boring geek-conversations between her and Warren, computer games, digitized versions of her pictures, and the occasional cat video. No clues to where she'd gone, or if Warren and her were together. She was suprised to see that her friend had a recently created folder called _'Punk rock'. "Hm... What could have possibly triggered her interest in that sort of music?"_ Chloe asked herself sarcastically. 

Suddenly the silence of the room was broken by the sound of a cellphone. It wasn't her own, nor was it Max's cellphone on the bed. Instead the noise seemed to originate from Max's closet. After a couple of seconds the noise disappeared, but only to be replaced by the sound of screeching metal. Something was definitely hiding there.

"Hello? Max, is that you?" Chloe took slow steps towards the closet as she waited for a response. "This isn't funny Max. Come out n-" before Chloe could finish her sentence, a blonde girl jumped out of the closet and ran to the door, only to be intercepted by Chloe.

"Who the fuck are you?! What are you doing in Max's room?!" Chloe shouted.

"It's none of your business! Now get out of my way!" the girl shot back as she tried to force her way through, only to be pushed back by the much stronger Chloe.

"I don't like repeating myself! Why the hell were you hiding in the closet?!"

The girl didn't respond and instead tackled Chloe with her shoulder, pushing her to the door, before following up with a knee-strike to her belly. Chloe's air was knocked out of her lungs, and as she grasped for air the blonde girl pushed her away and opened the door. Before she could make a run for it though, Chloe kicked her to the side of her knee, causing her to collapse sideways and hit her head on the wall. The girl's body immediately turned limp as she sank to the ground.

"Fuck... Fucking bastard." Chloe whispered as she slowly got her breath back. She got up and closed the door, hoping that no-one heard the small fight she just emerged victorious from, before dragging the body of the blonde girl and putting her on Max's office chair. The girl was wearing a black skirt and a red sweater, with a yellow shirt underneath it. The clothes looked quite expensive, and judging by the valuable jewelry she wore Chloe concluded that she must be from a wealthy family. 

After spending a couple of seconds searching for something she could use to restrain the girl, Chloe just gave up and instead drew her gun from her jacket. Frank had taken the gun as 'interest' the day before, but Chloe had retrieved it again when she and Max broke into his RV. Now she was about to threaten someone with it. She felt that it was justified considering that Max was missing and this girl probably knew something about her whereabouts, but it still felt weird having to aim something lethal at a person. Chloe went over to Max's bed and sat down, patiently waiting for the girl to wake up. It took longer than expected, but the girl finally came to her senses after a while. The blonde just sat on the chair for a moment, rubbing her left hand on her head whilst giving Chloe a confused look, before her face turned serious again as she realized the nature of her situation. She quickly got on her feet and was about to once again make a run for it to the door when Chloe pointed the gun at her.  
"Keep your skinny ass on the seat unless you want to overdose on lead." The blue-haired punk exclaimed while giving her a death stare.  
The girl complied and sat down, looking visibly shocked. After a moment of silence Chloe continued:  
"My friend Max is missing, and I end up finding you in her closet. Explain yourself."  
The blonde didn't respond. Instead she just sat on the chair with crossed arms and a troubled look, occasionally peeking up to Chloe as if she was analyzing the blue-haired girl. Suddenly her expression changed to worried.  
"Your friend Max is in great danger."

 **I'm soon done with chapter 4. I swear I won't go full sloth this time!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4.  
(Because of this chapter's content I have to 'upgrade' the story from T to M. Some people complained about too long paragraphs, so I have tried reducing the size. Tell me if it's still not good enough.)**

 _"Where am I? What is going on?"_ Max asked herself as she regained consciousness. It didn't take much time for her to remember the answers to those questions, and before long she found herself struggling to break free from the ropes. She was situated on a chair wearing only her underwear, with her legs tied together on the foot of the chair, hands tied up behind her back and eyes blindfolded. Max was completely deprived of her senses, and couldn't even hear her own cries for help because of the earplugs they had put in her ears. 

_"No... This isn't happening. Please tell me this isn't really happening."_ Max panicked and started pulling the ropes around her hands as hard as she could, but all that accomplished was to rip her skin. She tried removing the blindfold by rubbing her head on her shoulder, but it wouldn't budge. Even though her mind was overtaken by fear, she tried to focus as much as she could in the hope that maybe, just maybe she would be able to rewind without raising her hand. But it was all futile. Thousands of questions raced through her head. Who were they? Where had they taken her? And why were they doing this? Her thoughts quickly shifted to Chloe. Was she also kept like this? The black blindfold quickly turned damp as tears started flowing from the girl's eyes.  
 _"This is just so fucked up... So fucked up."_

Suddenly her earplugs were removed.  
"Calm down Maxine. Noone can hear you, no matter how loud you yelp." The voice belonged to the first man she had encountered in the forest. She hadn't been able to discern his accent due to the rain back then, but now it was apparent that he probably had roots from the UK. In the background Max could hear at least two more individuals whispering to each other.

"Where is Chloe?!" Max finally shouted with a broken voice.

The man let out a small laugh, before taking steps away from Max.  
"Oh, your friend is a wild one. It would've been interesting taming her wouldn't it lads?"

"Haha! Yeah, that bitch is begging for it." One of the men shot out. There was something familiar with that voice, but in her haze of confusion and angst Max couldn't really remember where she'd heard it before.

"But rest assured." The man with the British accent continued. "Your friend isn't here... Yet. Since you were in bad terms with her, we decided to use her as bait to draw you out. I hope you can forgive us for our little... deception."

Max would've been overjoyed hearing those words if she hadn't been so scared. Chloe was safe and sound. Everything had been a set up, but now she was the one in need of rescuing... And nobody knew.  
"How did you know about my fight with Chloe?" Max finally whispered.

"We all have our secrets Maxine."  
*Click* The sound of a camera going off startled Max. They were taking pictures! Kate Marsh had told Max yesterday about waking up in a "Bright room" when Nathan had drugged and kidnapped her. Could it be that Nathan had brought Kate in a photo studio? And could it be that Max herself was in one right now?

"You sick fucks! Why are you doing this to me?!" Max screamed out with all the power she could muster.

"We just want to have some fun, but your crying and screaming is ruining the mood." The man answered with a calm tone. "If you don't shut up we might have to tape you again." 

Seconds turned to minutes as Max just sat in the chair, trying to find a way to escape from her restraints. The 'click' sound of the camera was the only thing audible apart from her own sobbing, and the occassional comments or laughs from her captors. She would be able to rewind out of this situation if she could just free her right hand. One small movement was all it took for her to get out of this hellish situation, and yet it seemed so impossible. A feeling of hopelessness and despair washed over Max's mind, making her nauseas and dizzy. Things like these were only supposed to happen to characters in movies or fanfiction written by sick weirdos and idiots. Never had she imagined herself in this sort of situation. 

"Ok lads, I think we've had enough pictures for today." The man with the british accent said after a while. "Drug her and put her in the bed. It's time for the real fun to start."

"Yessir!" The familiar voice shot out, before taking fast steps towards Max.

"Please let me go! Please! I swear I won't tell anyone!" Max shouted hysterically as she once again struggled to break free. She didn't even want to think about what they were planning to do to her.

"Correct. You won't tell anyone. The only way you'll leave this place is in a bag, bitch!" Up close the voice seemed much clearer. She had hoped that this wasn't the case, but there was no more doubt about it. The voice definitely belonged to Nathan Prescott.

"Oh my god... Nathan, is that you?"

"I told you that you shouldn't have snitched on me. This wouldn't have happened if you'd kept your nose where it belonged!" The young man shouted as he seemed to prepare something.

"So you did drug Kate..." Max whispered. She had been right in her assumptions all along. First he had drugged Chloe, then Kate, and now it was her turn. Amidst all the confusion, fear and sadness, Max couldn't help but feel a small sense of satisfaction thinking about how she'd gotten Nathan expelled yesterday. Suddenly she felt a small sting on her neck.

"Yes. But unlike her, you'll be kept here as a pet for the rest of your short, miserable life." Nathan said before giving out a grim, dark laugh.

Max started feeling sleepy and calm as the drug came into effect. Her head felt light, her muscles relaxed and she just wanted to lay down and sleep. She could hear her captors talk to each other, but their voices were so hazy that she couldn't make out who they belonged to.

"How many months do you think this one will last?"

"Not as long as Rachel, that's for sure."

 _"Rachel? These... Bastards... are responsible for her disappearance as well?"_ Max thought as she struggled to stay conscious. It all made sense now. Rachel had been on a Vortex Club party before her disappearance. Nathan probably drugged and led her to this place, just like he did with Kate. But unlike Kate he and his co-kidnappers must've either kept Rachel hidden, or killed her. Max wasn't sure which was worse.

"I think she's out. Let's get to it."

Suddenly Max felt the ropes around her limbs loosen up. This was her chance to rewind and escape! This is what she had been waiting for ever since waking up in this hellish place. Her hand shot out to the heavens like a rocket as she focused her mind, ready to take her captors of the past by suprise.

"Haha. I don't think I dosed her enough. She's just high." Nathan laughed.

Nothing was happening. She was holding her right hand out like she had always done since saving Chloe in that bathroom, yet time was not reversing.

"What is happening? Why can't I rewind?" she whispered to herself.

She tried again, and yet again time didn't reverse. _"No... Why won't it work!"_  
Suddenly someone lifted her up, before dropping her on her back on what felt like a bed. Max removed the tear-filled piece of cloth covering her sight as she tried to make sense of her surroundings.

The room was painfully bright, and except the dark silhouette of three individuals surrounding her, all she could see was whiteness.  
Clenching her bloodshot eyes, Max tried to get a good look on the faces of her captors, but before she could get a proper glimpse, one of the men grabbed her by the legs and dragged her petite body close to his own giant frame. Multiple hands groped and caressed her body, and before long the man with the giant frame spread her legs apart, put them near his shoulders and pushed his hips closer to hers. She tried to resist by kicking, scratching and punching around, but her strength was rapidly fading as the effects of the drug became stronger.

"Calm down princess. Just accept your fate and try to enjoy this." The man with the british accent said whilst keeping her pushed down to the bed.

Max felt like a frightened lamb surrounded by hungry wolfs. A small part of her still hoped that this was some wild nightmare she would wake up from any minute. _"Wake up Max! Wake up! Someone please wake me up!"_ The girl desperately screamed in her mind.

Max's eyes were once again being drowned in tears, but still slowly getting used to the radiance of the room. She was finally able to make out the face of Nathan. He was standing to her left, grinning while he kept assaulting her body with his hands. The man with the giant frame holding her legs apart was someone she hadn't seen before, but his blue eyes and brown hair made him look suprisingly similar to Nathan. The british-sounding person who seemed to be the leader of the group was standing to her right, but his face was completely dark since his head was perfectly aligned with one of the powerful lamps behind him. Suddenly the mans pitch-black face became visible as he closed in on her with his lips held out. Max's heart skipped a beat. For a moment it felt like time was standing still, just like it had when she ran to the roof to stop Kate from jumping to her death. This man, this horrible person who had brought so much pain and misery to Arcadia Bay, was none other than Samuel, Blackwell Academy's kind, silent janitor.

 **(My next update will be a big one, featuring several chapters and concluding this part of the story. I don't know when it will be ready though. I'm a really slow writer + that english is not my native language, so sorry if it takes too long. It will be up before EP 4 of LiS is released, that's for sure. ^^)**

 **(PS! Remember to post a review. Complain about what you didn't like. Is the writing 'mechanical' with too little feeling? Do I use certain words and phrases too often? Are there too many spelling mistakes? Tell me!)**


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5.**  
 **So… About that promise I made one month ago… Sorry about. Still haven't finished this story. EP 4 is minutes away from being published, and I just have to post something.**

"What? What do you mean Max is in danger?!" Chloe shouted with the gun still aimed at the girl.

"I can't tell you more than that. If we make one mistake your hipster-friend will die. You just have to trust me." The blonde answered while avoiding eye contact.

"The hell I will! Tell me what's going on, now!"

"Even if I told you, there is nothing you can do! You just have to wait!"  
Chloe jumped up from the bed and cocked the gun.

"Look, I've had a hella shitty day. This is not the right time to piss me off."

"Fine! Fine! Just… Stop aiming that thing on me!" The girl shrieked while holding her hands in front of her head. After a brief pause she continued.

"They... They kidnapped her."

Chloe's heart skipped a beat when she heard those words.

"What? Who kidnapped her?!"

"I don't know! There is this group of people led by a man with an overly British accent who has some weird photo fetish! They never show their faces!" The girl took a deep breath before continuing. "They drug and abduct girls at Vortex Club parties; I help them cover their tracks. After they're... done with the girls they ship them to Blackwell so I can take care of them and convince them that nothing sinister has happened. Thanks to the drug most of the girls usually don't remember anything and believe my story... But there are exceptions. Their leader told me to search Max's room since he was afraid that Max had evidence tying him to the disappearance of Rachel Amber."

Chloe's eyes became wide open. "You mean... The people behind Max's kidnapping are also involved in Rachel's disappearance?"

The girl gave her a sad look before nodding in affirmation. "Yes, they've got a hideout not far away from the city were they take their victims."

Chloe started walking around the room with fast steps as she tried to process the information she just gotten hold of.

Max Caulfield, her only remaining friend, was kidnapped and in danger.

And the group behind her kidnapping was also responsible for her best friend Rachel's disappearance.

"Jesus. This is so fucked up... So fucked up!" She shouted as she aimed the gun at the girl once again. Chloe's eyes were burning bright, and her voice was both filled with anger and despair. "Why?! Why are you doing this?! Why help those psychos?!"

"I don't have any other choice! They'll kill Rachel if I don't help them!"

"Kill Rachel? Are you saying that Rachel is alive...?" Chloe whispered as tears started to form in her eyes. She wasn't sure if the tears were that of joy or sadness. Rachel was not dead, but at the same time she was being kept hidden by some psychopath in some far-away place. Chloe was still angry at her friend, but that didn't mean that she didn't care about her well-being.

"You have no idea how much I hate being in this position... How much I hate seeing the victims of those fucking bastards every time I'm at school, or walking down the halls of my dorm, fully knowing that I was involved in their abuse!" The girl's eyes turned red and teary.

She could be lying, but there was something about her that made Chloe want to believe her. She lowered the gun and closed in on the girl, kneeling besides her and giving her a hug. "Hey. Come here. I know things are fucked up, but... Everything will be alright. Everything will be fine." Chloe whispered to the sobbing girl's ear while doing her best to sound comforting. The punk girl had never been good with emotional stuff like this, and the fact that she herself was an emotional wreck after today didn't make things easier. It felt more like she was the one who needed a shoulder to cry on... that she was the one who needed an ear to whisper her problems to.

"My name is Chloe. I'm sorry for pointing a gun at you… What's your name?" Chloe asked carefully.

"Victoria." The blonde whispered with a shaky voice. Rachel talked a lot about a certain 'Victoria', but Chloe never had the opportunity to see the girl in person.

Chloe and Victoria were in each other's arms for a couple of seconds before the latter broke away and dragged an expensive looking handkerchief out to wipe her tears.

"Hey, I know this is hella creepy; but we have to put an end to this. I know both Rachel and Max, and I can assure you that they would rather die than be locked away like that." Chloe said after a while.

"There is nothing we can do. If we make as much as one mistake they'øll kill both of them."

Chloe stood up and walked back and forth the room again, pondering about her next move. She had David's handgun, but she wasn't sure if that alone would be enough to rescue her two friends as the criminals seemed rather dangerous and were probably armed.

"I never thought I would ever say this but... Let's go to the police." She finally said, feeling weird and unnatural for uttering those words.

"The police? We wouldn't be in this position if I could've gone to the fucking police, ok?" Victoria shot back. "The head of police is actively covering this up. I would've contacted them ages ago if they hadn't been a bunch of crooks."

Only one family in Arcadia Bay had the resources and influence to have the police in their back-pocket: The Prescotts. They seemed to have a hand in almost all the sinister things happening in Arcadia Bay. Besides, Nathan, the son of Sean Prescott, had drugged both her and Kate, had close ties to Rachel, and had sent several threats to Max. There was no-way he wasn't somehow involved in all this.  
The blonde broke Chloe's train of thoughts and suddenly rose from her chair with a determined face.

"I'll help you, but under one condition: We'll do it my way or no-way. If you absolutely want to pull a rescue OP and risk both our lives and the lives of Max and Rachel, then I want to have a say in how we pull this shit through, capiche?"

Chloe just stared at the blonde for a couple of seconds, surprised of the girl's sudden change of heart. "Ca-fucking-piche!" the blue haired punk shouted after a while, whilst smiling for the first time in hours.

 **Max:**  
The janitor's eyes were filled with both hate and lust as he was moving his mouth closer to Max's lips. This man, this gentle soul she had conversed with countless times before in these past weeks, was responsible for the horrible things that had befallen Rachel and Chloe? The person who only days ago lectured her on the virtues of kindness was the one who almost drove Kate to suicide? It seemed so unbelievable, and yet everything made sense. The pictures of Rachel she'd found in his shed, the pieces of fabric that lay among his tools, the way he got all defensive when Max confronted him with her findings. Everything had been an act. His warm personality, his posture, his philosophy... Even his soft voice and accent. He was Samuel the Janitor to the public, but deep behind those brown eyes lurked a vile monster capable of the most inhumane acts. Now this monster was centimeters away from becoming Max's first kiss, and there was nothing she could do about it.

Max felt a sense of regret wash over her when she remembered Chloe's offer from a couple of hours ago. The blue-haired punk had dared Max to kiss her, and even though she really wanted to, Max still refused as it didn't feel right at the time.

 _"No... No! I won't let this happen! I won't let this happen!"_ Max screamed inside her mind in panic as she mustered all the power she had left and head-butted Samuel right before he could connect his lips to hers, sending him flying backwards to the ground. Normally the pain of the impact would've left her screaming in agony, but all the fear, anger and adrenaline, combined with the effects of the drug, made her almost immune to pain.

For a moment everything went dark, almost as if someone had turned down the lights, before Max regained her eyesight. Warm blood was flowing down her forehead, and the world was spinning like a carousel. She wasn't sure why, but all the sounds in the room had disappeared and been replaced by absolute silence. The groping and fumbling of her body had stopped as well, but she could still feel Nathans fingers on her pink bra, and the brown-haired man's hand on her undies, both seconds away from ripping the garments off. After recollecting herself for a couple of seconds Max suddenly realized that everything had stopped up. Time was once again standing still.

"Wowser. I've done it again!" It felt like ages since she'd last felt relieved and hopeful. Max didn't have much time to celebrate though. Her vision was quickly deteriorating, she could barely feel her limbs, and the pain in her head was getting worse, almost as if someone was banging a giant hammer on it.

She pressed away Nathan and the brown-haired man's hands, and slowly got up to her feet. The room was white like the walls of a hospital, with cameras, tripods, binders, lamps and chairs covering most of it.

What got most of Max's attention though was Samuel. The man was floating mid-air with clenched eyes and teeth, obviously being in great pain. Blood was pouring out of his nose, and small fragments of his now shattered glasses were flying in all directions. Max wasn't one to take joy in the suffering of others, but this time she couldn't help but feel a sense of Schadenfreude. She was furious and wanted to make him suffer; make him go through all the horrible pain he had inflicted on others... And yet she felt too weak and tired to make her wish come true. The effects of the drug, and the burning sensation her powers produced in her head were starting to take their toll on the girl's body.  
"Y-You are lucky I feel like shit." She whispered to Samuel's frozen body as she slowly made her way towards the door.

Max was only wearing her pink underwear, but she didn't care. All she wanted was to just get as far away as possible from this place before either the drug knocked her out, or her powers failed again. She reached the dark-grey door and went through it, only to find herself in front of a long wooden staircase leading up to something that resembled the front gate of Blackwell Academy. The mixture of pain and fatigue was starting to become unbearable as Max slowly made her way up.

She shoulder-tackled the door, and to her relief it wasn't locked. She made her way through what seemed to be a wooden lodge. There was almost nothing inside the building except for some old jackets, chairs and tools. Max was surprised how old fashioned the building was, as the room downstairs they'd kept her in looked pretty modern, like some sort of professional photo studio.

She quickly grabbed one of the large coats laying on one of the chairs, made her way through the exit of the lodge, and was immediately greeted with the sight of pearl shaped rain-drops frozen mid-air, and a vast sea of trees and bushes. She was obviously no longer in Arcadia Bay by the looks of it.

With slow, barefooted steps the girl made her way across the narrow dirt-road leading away from the building. She could barely move her legs and arms; her vision was blurred and hazy; her skull felt like it was cracking; her nose was bleeding, and her body felt heavy, almost as if someone had strapped a gigantic chunk of rock on her shoulders. The pain was so intense that Max just wanted to lie down on the ground and scream in agony, hoping for all of this to pass.

"N-no! I can't... Fall... Now... I won't fall now!" The girl kept repeating in her head as she pushed her body and powers to the limits.  
Suddenly the rain started pouring down from the heavens, quickly accompanied by a strong, chilling breeze that made the already exhausted Max even more tired. Her power wasn't working anymore! She had reached her limit, and still didn't know where she was. Now it was only a matter of time before Samuel would launch a hunt after her. Max quickly scurried away from the dirt-road and into the green bushes, hoping that the rain would wash away her footprints.  
Her body still felt heavy, but with her power no longer active she had a much easier time moving through the forest, even though every inch of her body still ached.

Suddenly a bluebird similar to the one she saved in Joyce's room jumped out of the wiggling trees and landed right in front of Max, staring towards her with the side of its left eye. There was something freaky about the blue-feathered avian. It felt like a spirit. Upon closer inspection Max realized that she could stare right through it, just like she could with the doe she encountered both in her vision and in the junkyard. _"I'm not sure, but it seems like it wants me to follow it..."_ The girl thought. She was cold, tired, and could at any moment end up being re-captured by Samuel and Nathan; but decided nonetheless to scurry towards it. In her vision it felt like the doe was helping her. Maybe this bluebird was trying to do the same?

Max's new avian companion flew to the sky when she approached it, and kept circling above her like a carrion bird; completely unaffected by the strong wind and heavy shower. It kept doing this for a couple of minutes, while occasionally landing on nearby trees or right in front of Max when she took wrong turns. The girl had a hard time moving and keeping track of the avian's location due to the bad weather, absence of light, and dense forest; but her situation quickly improved when she stumbled on a small opening in the tight vegetation.

Her companion suddenly took off to the heavens, flying much higher and faster than usual, only to make a loop and dive down towards the ground like a German Ju-87, disappearing into a small slope of mud next to a fallen tree.  
 _"Oh no! Poor bird. Why did it do that?"_

Max ran over to the crashsite and started digging with her half-frozen hands. She dug and dug for minutes on end, but the bird was nowhere to be seen. Her hands were drenched in blood from all the burrowing when she suddenly felt the familiar touch of plastic on her fingers. It was black, and drenched in something sticky Max couldn't make out in the darkness. She took hold of the piece of black organic material and dragged it with all her strength, when a bloodied arm suddenly appeared from the loose soil.  
Max let out a loud scream as she fell on her back. It occurred to her that the blood on her hands was not her own, but that of whomever was wrapped within the plastic beneath the ground.

"What the fuck?! Why is this always happening to me?!"The girl shouted in frustration.  
The past couple of hours had been the cruelest in her life, and it didn't seem like the universe was planning to go easy on her any time soon. She took a couple of deep breaths to calm herself down, before getting up and slowly approaching the arm.

 _"Could this be Rachel's body? Is this why the bird led me here?"_ Samuel and his crew had mentioned something about Rachel 'not lasting'. Could this be the place they disposed of her body? The thought of this made the already sick Max even more nauseas. She sat down next to the half-buried limb, doing her best to muster enough courage to touch it again so she could confirm that it was Rachel.

After several attempts her hand finally connected to the flesh of the deceased person, when suddenly an intense pain crept over Max's body. She screamed in agony as everything went dark and silent for a moment, before her eyes were greeted with an intense flash.  
She was standing in the 'photo studio' again! The white walls, red binders, lamps, cameras, tripods… Almost everything looked exactly the same.

 _"No! Why am I here again?!"_ The brunette asked herself. She didn't get to ponder on the question for long since a new, more urgent one appeared as her gaze turned to the middle of the room. On a chair identical to the one she woke up on sat a blindfolded brunette girl, with blood pouring down her slender throat as none other than Mr. Jefferson stood inches away from her, holding a black camera, and snapping pictures. 


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6.**

Rachel Amber was dead, and the person responsible for her death was Max's mentor and icon, Mark Jefferson. She had always wondered why a successful and famous photographer like him would bother to teach at a small, remote place like Arcadia Bay. Now it made perfect sense. He was using the school as a way to get close to young girls to fulfill his twisted, sadistic desires. Jefferson being involved also explained why Samuel was aware of her falling out with Chloe, since Max had spoken to her teacher right after the punk-girl dumped her. She had long suspected that Rachel was dead, but out of kindness to Chloe she tried to keep a positive outlook. Now every glimmer of hope was gone.

Jefferson turned and walked towards a nearby computer. Normally this would've made Max jump and hide, but out of shock she just stood still with mouth wide open, staring at the blood drenched brunette girl in the chair. Luckily for Max, Jefferson wasn't noticing her, almost as if she wasn't there. It took Max a while to realize that she was transparent like the doe she kept seeing so often.

"This is so fucked up." Max whispered to herself as her legs started shaking violently. "How am I going to tell this to Chloe?!"

No matter how much Max tried to concentrate, her mind just kept wandering to her blue-haired friend. Chloe was still convinced that Rachel was alive. How would she react when she found out about this? Max recollected herself and walked towards the desk. Except for his dress jacket, Jefferson was wearing his usual clothes. The man's face was cold and didn't betray any emotions. After coming close enough, Max was able to make out the content of the computer screen. It contained a black and white picture of Rachel, with her throat slit, but her eyes wide open and full of fear. Shocked, Max concluded that the brunette must've been alive at the time the picture was snapped. Equally shocking was the fact that the date on the edge of the computer displayed October, 1st, 2013. That was only a couple of days ago. Rachel had disappeared around April after attending a Vortex club party. Had she been locked up by for that many months?

 _"Am I relieving the past, or am I actually that far back in time?"_ Max thought.

Suddenly her vision went dark, and once more she felt like someone was beating her with a hammer. Her location had changed. She wasn't in the photo studio anymore. Instead the room looked like a dungeon, with walls made out of concrete. At the very edge of the room was a bed with Rachel on it. The girl's hands, legs and head were strapped to the bed as Nathan injected something in her neck with a syringe.

"Why, Nathan?! How could you do this to me?!" The sobbing girl asked.

"I've got no other choice! This is what he wants!" Nathan shot out. His hands were shaking, and by the look of his face it was pretty obvious that he wasn't enjoying the ordeal.

"You don't have to do this. You are a victim of this, just like me. The police won't harm you if you tell them the truth. Please… listen to me." The half-conscious girl pleaded.

Before Nathan could respond, the steel door behind him opened with a loud, screeching noise. It was Samuel, Jefferson and the tall, brown-haried man from before.

"Is she out yet?" Samuel asked with his usual, overly British accent.

"Rachel is my friend. It's fucked up enough that I agreed to let you do this to her, but I won't let you keep her here!" Nathan yelled at him, ignoring his question.

"Nathan. If you had dosed her properly, she wouldn't have woken up in the photo-studio. Now she knows our secret. We have to either kill her, or keep her here."

"Listen son; Samuel is the most experienced among us. We can't ignore him if he believes that Rachel is going to be a threat if released." The brown-haired man interrupted.

"Son? Is this man Sean Prescott?" Max wondered. She didn't get much time to contemplate as an intense pain crept up her spine and made its way to her head. She screamed in agony as her mind was bombarded with a stream of incoherent images accompanied by inaudible sounds. Some of them showed Rachel being tortured by Jefferson, Samuel or Sean. Others showed various outsiders, including the chief of police, performing the same sadistic acts. "Make it stop!" Max screamed, but it was to no pictures just kept flashing before her eyes for almost an entire minute, before it finally stopped, along with the pain. Opening her eyes, Max realized that she was no longer in the dungeon-looking room. She wasn't anywhere. The entire area was completely white. No ground, no roof, no walls; just whiteness, and silence.

"Where am I? What's happening?"

"I've been watching you for some time Max." a soft voice suddenly shot out, startling the brunette.

"What? Who are you?"

"We haven't met before, but we both know of each other."

A dark cloud appeared before Max, materializing first into the shape of a humanoid, then the shape of a woman, and finally into none other than Rachel Amber.  
The girl was wearing a simple light-blue shorts, a black t-shirt and black slippers . On her ear she wore the very same feather she had on the picture Chloe put up everywhere around Arcadia Bay. Her face was beautiful and calm, nothing like in the horrible 'visions' Max recently experienced were the poor girl's face was all bruised and bloody.

"Wowser. Rachel, is that really you?!" Max shouted out, while both confused and happy. She had just seen Rachel's dead body, and yet here the girl was, standing before Max looking as beautiful and lively as ever.

"It's me. Good to finally meet you Max."

"But I saw your corpse… I saw them hurt you. How is this possible?" Max asked.

"With what you've seen in the last days, the word 'possible' and 'impossible' should no longer hold any meaning." Rachel spoke whilst crossing her arms and looking down at the eternal nothingness underneath her with thoughtful eyes. "Everything you saw in these visions happened. I showed them to you so you could get an idea of what I've been through these past months. I'm… I'm dead, Max. But my spirit is trapped here."

"I'm so sorry Rachel. I truly am." Max said with a concerned look. "How But what do you mean with 'trapped'?"

"The area your real body is standing over is an ancient native American burial site. I don't know the details, but there seem to be powerful forces in play here. My spirit is trapped because I still have unfinished business in this world."

"Unfinished business? Like bringing everyone involved in your murder to justice?"

The girl's face turned dark and gloomy as she took a deep breath. "Yeah, something like that. I've already shown you what they did to me. It was so horrible. I felt sad, angry, and abandoned; especially because almost every important person in this town knew what was going on, and yet they didn't do anything to help me." The whiteness surrounding both Max and Rachel was replaced by dark, greyish clouds, as the latter's voice turned darker and darker as she went on, leaving a small echoing sound at the end. "I hated them, and this town. Part of me just wanted to nuke the whole place into oblivion, even if it meant that innocents would die." She took a small break before continuing. "After some months they got tired, killed me, and buried me in this forest to make sure no-one could find me. That was their biggest mistake. From the moment they dug me in, my mind re-awakened… along with my thirst for vengeance."

"That's so fucked up. It makes me furious to think that even the chief of police was involved!" Max said.

"The chief of police, several important politicians, businessmen... Many people are involved, but the main culprits are Samuel and Nathan's father. That twisted fuck Samuel serves as the mastermind since he has previous experience with this sort of sick things from the UK. Jefferson is being blackmailed, although I'm not sure what they're using against him. Sean merely provides the funds and is obsessed with some sort of 'legacy', while his son Nathan is... just a manipulated child. Remember that vision were I told Nathan that he is a victim of this? I wasn't lying. His father is a control freak, and has completely ruined his mind."

"That makes sense. Nathan is twisted. But I never expected Samuel to be involved in this. He is completely different."

"I once overheard a conversation were he mentioned something about being on the run for kidnapping and murder in the UK. It is safe to assume that he's faking his identity." Rachel sighed. "When I died, I wanted everyone responsible to go down. I wanted them to suffer for what they'd done to me. This sacred site is somehow trying to make my wish from that time come true... in the form of a giant tornado. I think you've already seen it in your visions."

Max's eyes turned wide open. "Wowser. You know about my visions?"

"I know both about your visions and your time-travel abilities. I gave you the latter so you could save Chloe and stop the storm from ruining Arcadia Bay. Your visions on the other hand are merely memories from your previous attempts to fix this mess. Max, this isn't the first time you've tried to stop the storm, nor is this the first time you've been kidnapped."

"W-what?" Was all Max could utter.

"You've tried to stop the storm four times earlier, but in all instances you've failed and traveled back all the way to the moments before you met Chloe in that bathroom. Traveling that far back in time probably put a big fucking strain on your memory."

Max stood still, staring at Rachel with an expressionless face. The expressionlesness was not a result of apathy though, but more a result of shock, confusion and fear ravaging her mind at the same time. Her time travel abilities had been weird enough, but she had always hoped that maybe there would be a logical scientific explanation to it all. Now she had to deal with spirits and magical native American burial sites.

"Max, I know this sounds fucking scary, but you have to stay focused. We don't have much time."

"I-I'm sorry. It's just so much to process." Max finally said. "But why give this power to me?! I'm just a geek girl with barely any influence in this town. Why didn't you give it to Chloe? She is clearly braver than me."

"I'm sorry for having put you through all this trouble. I truly am. But there was no other way. You were the only one capable of saving Chloe from Nathan in that bathroom." Rachel closed in on Max, and put her hand on the petite girl's shoulder. "You're not so bad as you think. You're kind, compassionate and strong-willed. The fact that you've made it this far tells me that you're the perfect person for putting an end to Arcadia's corruption. Besides; have you seen Chloe? She is a magnet for trouble. Any person who's first thought about time travel is 'banging people with no strings attached' should never be allowed to hold such powers." Rachel chuckled.

Max smiled for the first time in ages. Chloe was indeed a master of trouble.  
"You said that I've failed four times already. What makes you think that this time will be different?"

"Because this time you spoke to me. I tried to guide you in your previous four attempts through my spirits, but you were never able to find my grave. This time though, I can clarify the whole situation so you can succeed in stopping the storm."

"Got it. So, what do I have to do?"

"You need to find a way to either kill everyone involved in this sick rape-ring, or expose them so they can be arrested. Only then will the storm, along with all these weird anomalies that have been affecting Arcadia Bay, cease. For starters, you should try to get out of this forest and find Chloe and David. I know that that David can be an ass, but he has his heart in the right place."

"Do you know where they are?"

"No, I've been busy guiding you. All I know is that Chloe headed towards Blackwell Academy last I checked on her. David on the other hand was in a motel called 'Eagle's Nest' because of that argument you guys had in Joyce's house."

"I've never heard of that motel. I haven't been in town for half a decade."

"Don't worry. I will guide you, just like I guided you to my grave." Rachel took a deep breath and stared at Max with a saddened expression. "Max, this will most likely be the last time we talk, so I was wondering if you could do me one last favour."

"Not a problem Rachel. What is it?"

"I've got three letters hidden inside a small crack near the bed in that dungeon. You know, the one I just showed you moments ago in that vision. I... I wrote them during the months they kept me there. One is addressed to my parents, the second one to Chloe, and the final one to Frank. Can you make sure that they'll get it?"

"Of course. Once I've brought Samuel, Jefferson and the Prescotts to justice, I'll make sure that those letters reach their intended targets. You have my word."

"Thanks Max. You've got now idea how much this means to me." Rachel closed her eyes and stood still for some seconds. Max was surprised by Rachel's calm demeanor. Everyone else would've most likely burst out into tears after having gone through so much hell. "Samuel and the rest are closing in. It's time for you to get moving." The girl finally said with eyes still shut.

"Rachel, I'm so sorry that we weren't able to save you. I'm so sorry that these sick bastards were able to hurt you for so long." Max said with tears forming in her eyes.

"Don't be sorry, Max. Just go out there and kick their asses." Rachel gave Max a hug and took some steps away from her. "Chloe is all yours now. Please take care of her. She's been through a lot as well."

"I will, I promise."

"I'm sure you will. You two are hella cute together, you know?!"

"Hella? Seems like even you got infected by Chloe's verbal quirks " Max chuckled.

Rachel's body slowly dissolved into thousands of glittering dust-particles.  
"It's the other way around; Chloe picked that one from me." She smiled, before becoming one with the void.

After a brief moment, the whiteness enveloped Max. When she opened her eyes, she was back in the forest, sitting on all four over the pile of mud she'd dug. It all made sense now. The puzzle was coming together. Her ability to time travel, her visions, Rachel's disappearance… Everything was clear. Most importantly, she knew how to stop the vortex from devastating Arcadia Bay. All she needed to do was to bring those involved in Rachel's murder to justice. Just like Rachel promised, the spirit-bird from before popped up again from the ground, and landed on top of a nearby tree some meters away, ready to guide Max through the forest. She forced herself up and started walking towards it, growing increasingly determined with each step. The pain and exhaustion from before was back, but it wasn't as bad anymore. The entire experience with Rachel's spirit had oddly enough revitalized her. The rain was getting increasingly violent, along with the powerful wind, but that did not stop the poorly dressed Max from finding her way to the mud-road leading towards Arcadia Bay.

 _"Will I make it in time? What should I tell David? And how is Chloe going to react to Rachel's death?"_ She was pondering on these questions when suddenly a voice broke her strain of thought.

"Don't take any step further if you cherish your life!" It was Samuel, accompanied by Nathan and Sean Prescott. Max jumped up and was about to make a run for it when she spotted the hunting rifle the latter was aiming at her.

"I don't know what kind of trick you employed to get away, but your little prison-break is over!" Samuel shouted while approaching Max.

Judging from his voice and body language, one could clearly see that he was agitated and no longer displaying his calm demeanor. Max quickly raised her right hand, hoping that her time-powers were back, but once again nothing happened. Instead Samuel grabbed her by the arm and kneed her in the belly, knocking the air out of her lungs.

 **Authors note:**  
 **Magical native American burial ground cliché - Check.**

 **Btw. Do you guys think that I can change this back to Teen? The stuff I've written here hasn't been that graphic that it deserves an M, right?**


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